continental congress had no power to tax, to reduce troops. it was simply a place -- a debating society for the leaders from the various states to argue different policies. they were at war with each other. they were independent, sovereign nations and the leaders from various states began to realize we need a stronger federal government so they wrote the constitution. many americans were opposed to the constitution and became antifederalists. so they were the federalists and antifederalists opposed to each other from the very beginning. from the signing of the constitution. the antifederalists gradually became known as republicans and then democrat republicans. so when john quincy adams was running for office, and you now have the republicans, democrats republicans running against the federalist and he was the last of the federalist. the federalists ran this country from the beginning. washington, adams and they were the people that ran the country in the elite, the constitutional and the states allow property owners to vote. gradually univers